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Kruger National Park South Africa

Planning a holiday in Kruger National Park? As well as bringing you the best boutique hotels and stylish romantic retreats that Kruger National Park has to offer, we've put together a short introduction to what you can expect from a trip here…

Price information

Unless you have specified dates for your stay, prices used in this search represent the lowest nightly rate available for a double room in the next 21 days. Any prices have been converted from the hotels’ local currency using the latest exchange rates available from openexchangerates.org.

Countryside Into the wild

Country life Safari with style

This exhilarating and accessible Eden – which still bears traces of Stone Age secrets – promises stylish lodges and classic 1900s-style camps, in addition to spine-tingling encounters with wildlife.

As big as Wales but considerably wilder, Kruger National Park is one of the world’s top places to get up close and personal with the Big Five: lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard and rhinoceros. The park was set up to protect wildlife, but it also preserves human history, with ancient cave paintings and Stone and Iron Age artefacts all found within its borders (the Limpopo and Crocodile rivers to the north and south, and the Lebombo Mountains to the east). Kruger’s acclaimed wilderness is evident everywhere in its 7,500sq m of river-crossed veldt, but safari adventures needn’t mean roughing it: silver service and swimming pools await.

Do go/Don’t go

Game viewing is at its best during the dry winter months (from May to September), when days are mild and clear night skies make evenings chilly. But, the balmy summer months (October to April) bring their own attractions: lush vegetation, full waterholes, newborn wildlife and the arrival of migrating birds. For a peaceful stay, avoid mid-December to January, when South Africans evacuate their cities and Europeans and North Americans flock here for some winter sun.

Planes Touch down in Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport near Nelspruit (www.mceglobal.net). Flights from Johannesburg take one hour; Durban’s an hour and a half away and Cape Town’s just over two hours from Kruger. Several domestic carriers fly here, the main ones being South African Airlines (www.flysaa.com) and British Airways–owned Comair Limited (www.comair.co.za).

Automobiles The drive to Kruger from Johannesburg takes between seven and eight hours. Once you arrive, there are a range of well-documented self-drive routes through the park. Local car rental options include branches of Avis in Skukuza, Nelspruit and Phalaborwa (www.avis.co.za).

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